It is well-known in the art that a series of fluoropolymers, including PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene), PFA (perfluoroalkoxy), etc, have excellent non-sticking property and in general can be used as non-sticking coatings. The PTFE 15 commonly used in non-sticking coatings and is usually referred to as Teflon which is the trademark of the DuPont Company since PTFE was first developed by this company about 70 years ago. Teflon is the brand for a series of synthetic fluoropolymers1. Fluoropolymers are known to have no affinity for nearly any materials. Nevertheless, the Messersmith group has demonstrated the affinity of polydopamine to the Teflon materials.2 
A microarray is a multiplex 2D array on a solid substrate for detecting and analyzing many types of biological materials using high-throughput detection methods. The concept and methodology of microarrays were first introduced and illustrated in antibody microarrays (also referred to as antibody matrix) in 1983 by Chang TW3 and several patents.4-6 In early 1990s, Schena and coworkers developed the microarray technology which brought a huge impact to the development of biological analysis techniques. The high-throughput analysis based on microarray technology allowed fast detection of the interactions between biomolecules, and therefore promoted the research in life science and medical diagnosis.7 Types of microarrays include DNA microarrays, protein microarrays, peptide microarrays or the like.
Protein and peptide microarray is a well developed technique for clinical analysis.8,9 A typical protein or peptide microarray consists of substrate, functionalized reaction spots, immobilized protein or peptide, target protein and labeled reagents for detection.10,11 The commonly used labeling reagents are fluorescence molecules,12,13 horseradish peroxidase (HRP),14 quantum dots,15,16 nanoparticles17 and etc. Based on the labeling reagents, methods such as fluorescence microscopy,12,17 enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or enzyme linked immune chemiluminescene assay14,18 have been developed to detect the target protein signal.
The substrate of a microarray, also commonly known as the support, is a material on which the microarray is produced. Nitrocellulose, paper and various silica materials are commonly used substrate for a microarray.11,19 However, most of these substrates suffer from nonspecific protein adsorption and the adsorption leads to the increase of the background signal and limits the detection.20 Multi-steps of surface treatment have to be done for nitrocellulose or glass in order to reduce the background signal,21,22 which significantly increase the substrate cost and the complexity of the substrate handling and storage.
The sensitivity and stability of a protein microarray would be decreased if the substrate surface was not sufficiently blocked. Therefore, different kinds of surface blocking methods have been developed to deactivate the background area, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG),23 bovine serum albumin (BSA),24 etc.25,26,27 These methods usually take a long period to be completely accomplished, and the nonspecific protein adsorption is still detectable.27 Methods of activating and functionalizing the reaction spots on the substrate include adding functional groups of esters, aldehyde-, epoxy-, maleimides, coating polymers which can absorb proteins such as poly-L-lysine, adding amino groups, hydrazines and etC.11,28 Most of the methods require expensive chemical reagents under strictly controlled conditions, and thus usually require special trained technique and high cost.
Therefore, there exists a need for developing a new substrate for producing microarrays, especially for protein or peptide microarrays.